


[FAILURE]

by EllieWan



Series: Siegetober 2020 [22]
Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Dialogue Heavy, Established Bandit/Jäger, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Kind of unrequited Ace/Thermite, Light-Hearted, M/M, Sibling Rivalry, Siegetober (Rainbow Six)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27163382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieWan/pseuds/EllieWan
Summary: CH1: Jäger got hurt and Bandit has to pilot the helicopter.He freaks out and it's the right time for some couple argument.CH2: Ace and Thermite get stuck in an elevator.Thermite isn't too happy about that. But Ace is.
Relationships: Dominic "Bandit" Brunsmeier/Marius "Jäger" Streicher, Håvard "Ace" Haugland/Jordan "Thermite" Trace
Series: Siegetober 2020 [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948948
Comments: 18
Kudos: 67





	1. NEUNZEHNHUNDERTVIERUNDNEUNZIG

**Author's Note:**

> Sry for any mistake, I tried to proofread as much as I could :(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My late entry for yesterday's prompt "failure". I've tried 7 different drafts and couldn't choose between those two.
> 
> I tried so hard not to make angsty or hurt/comfy things because I feel like I'm always writing the same thing from one fic to another, but guess what, (spoiler alert) I couldn't resist hurting Jäger one more time haha
> 
> \+ My apologizes for any mechanical inaccuracy, I unfortunately don't know how to pilot a helicopter.  
> \+ Also I really couldn't stop myself from putting some German words in there, but it's more for the sound of the sentence, and doesn't mean that they were speaking English and switched to German. I'm sorry if that creates any inconvenience while reading.

“Dom, I’ve… I’ve been shot, ugh.” Jäger muttered.

“What do you mean you’ve been shot?!”

“As in I’VE BEEN SHOT. Urgh, that hurts, you’re gonna… you’re gonna have to take it from here.”

Jäger and Bandit were on the helicopter. They had created a diversion so that the team could sneak into the offshore platform on which the White Masks had stacked biohazard containers. And the diversion had worked; they were now flying out of range, hidden in the misty clouds of the marine night. But Jäger had taken a bullet in the process.

“Where are you hurt?”

“In the thigh… Urgh I can feel the blood damping my pants.”

Marius unbuckled his belt.

“What are you doing?” Dominic shouted.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going to take the bullet out and patch my wound!”

“And who’s going to pilot the helicopter?”

“You are, duh!”

“The hell I am! Let me take care of your wound while you keep on piloting.”

“Dominic, there’s a reason why you were assigned as my copilot on this, now stop whining, I’m going to take the bullet out before I die, okay?”

“Stop the dramatics and sit back down, I’ll do it for you!”

Marius rolled his eyes and slid towards the backseats, wincing at the pain and Dominic quickly took the commands in hand, in a reflex.

“No, no, no, no, no, don’t you dare leave me with this-

“Responsibility? Come on Dom, I freaking _stamped_ your pilot license, don’t you remember? I know you can do it. Look: altimeter, vertical speed, horizontal situation, torquemeter… you still remember what a torquemeter is, right?”

“Yeah that’s like the thing that indicates the power used by the engine on the rotors?”

“See? You still got it, love.”

Marius then disappeared in the back seats, taking the first aid kit from its holder. Dominic continued to yell at him, over his shoulder:

“But that was in 1994 Marius! We’re in fucking 2020!”

“But it’s like bicycle, you never forget it. It’s even easier with this one, it’s all modern and assisting.”

“It was in FUCKING NEUNZEHNHUNDERTVIERUNDNEUNZIG, MARIUS! NEUNZEHNHUNDERTVIERUNDNEUNZIG!”

“I KNOW BUT YOU PASSED IT”

“AFTER I FAILED THE EXAM TWICE”

“That’s because I wanted to see you more around.”

“Wait… You what? You stopped me from having my license because you wanted to have me around?”

“It’s not like you had 100/100 on the test either.”

“I can’t believe this! Cedric’s been making this joke for more than 20 years about me being the twin failure because he had it in one go, while I had to take the exam THREE TIMES, and you’re telling me that’s because you- Marius, how could you?!”

“Sorry princess.”

“When we land, I mean IF we land, we’re going to have a serious conversation, you and I.”

“Oooh I’m sure we are.”

Marius managed to take the bullet out and it clang when it hit the metallic ground. He then quickly disinfected the wound and tightly banded his thigh to stop the bleeding.

“You alright though, babe?” Dominic asked with a softer voice.

“Yeah. It hurts but I’ll survive, I guess. I think I lost quite some blood, my pants are soaked red.”

“Don’t faint on me, uh?”

“Nah. But I’ll let you take it from here, though. I’m shaking. Must be the adrenaline. I’ll radio the others to let them know we didn’t get shot down. Just keep it steady meanwhile.”

“Just remember I didn’t promise anything.”

Marius chuckled and radioed Ash, the capcom on the operation. The diversion had worked well as the others managed to sneak into the offshore platform and locate the containers. Bandit was circling around the extraction point, waiting for their colleagues. Jäger had taken place back in his seat and was helping Bandit remember his lessons.

After twenty minutes, the operation was a success and they grabbed everyone safely.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Grace chuckled “Bandit, dude, you’re the pilot?”

“Guess I needed one more thing to add to my Tinder profile.”

Marius slapped his helmet.

“I’m joking, babe!”

Doc worriedly bent forward:

“Marius, I heard you were wounded?”

“Yeah. Took a bullet in my thigh, I removed it, cleaned the wound, applied pressure to stop the bleeding and bandaged it.”

“And do you have any fever? Is your wound burning, stinging, hurting…?”

“It’s stinging, but not burning. And no, I don’t have any temperature rise, I checked before you climbed in. But I feel a bit dizzy.”

“How much blood do you think you’ve lost?”

“I don’t know. Enough to soak my pants and numb my reflexes a bit, I guess.”

“Hm I don’t like it. Are you sure you stopped the bleeding?”

“Yes, I’m sure, Doc. Do you want me to take my pants off and show you?”

“Don’t _ever_ repeat that.” Dominic added.

“I’m his doctor, Brunsmeier.” Doc sighed.

“You’re his _gay_ doctor.”

They argued some more but since everybody was tired with the mission, they all started dozing off. Except Dominic who was deeply focused on his piloting. That was a lot of emotion for him today. First, Marius being shot, even though it was ‘just’ in the thigh. Then him taking the commands of the helicopter. Like, he had been prepared “administratively” speaking, but not mentally. He had been Jäger’s co-pilot on several missions, but he never actually needed to do anything since Marius was a control-freak and was managing well on his own. And then there was that thing Marius told him, about him being the reason why he didn’t have his license the first time. They had flirted back then, but he didn’t know Marius had been _that_ interested in him before. What if they had started dating at that time? Would he have gone undercover? Would he have dated Anatolya? And all those years Cedric had spent laughing at Dominic for _failing two times_ the helicopter license…

They arrived at the base and though he knew how to land, and the software babysitting him, he still wanted to have Marius checking his manipulations.

“Marius? Wake up we’re at the base, I’m going to land.”

But Marius didn’t respond, still sleeping.

“Babe, wake up. I don’t want to accidentally crash us.”

He patted Marius’s shoulder but found only stiffness.

“Babe? Hey, wake up!”

“What’s happening?” Doc worriedly asked.

“He’s not waking up.” Dominic started to panic.

“Land the helicopter now, Dominic.”

“But-“

“Land it if you want me to see what’s wrong with him!”

Dominic was almost shaking. He focused on the landing, while extremely worried by his boyfriend not waking up right next to him. And Jäger hadn’t lied, the whole thing was so modern that the software assisted his landing so much he didn’t even need to do much. When the blades finally stopped, everybody got down. He unbuckled his belt, then Jäger’s. Doc opened the front door, checked for Jäger’s pulse and sighed with relief:

“He’s just fainted.”

Doc then pulled Jäger by the arm to place him on his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. They then rushed to the infirmary where Doc put Jäger on a bed.

“Take his trousers off” he ordered while reaching for clean gloves and his medical kit.

Dominic did as he was asked, unstrapping Jäger’s equipment and taking his trousers off, revealing the soaking wet wound that had absolutely damped his so-called ‘bandage’.

“I need to have a serious conversation with him regarding what I call “stopping the bleeding”, he must have fainted because of the blood loss. I’ll clean the wound properly and stitch it. Then I’ll give him a transfusion to fasten his recovery. Go change yourself and report to Harry. And bring Marius some clean clothes. He’ll be fine.”

Dominic hesitated but Doc raised his angry eyebrows at him, so he sighed, leaving Marius’s hand he had been holding without being aware of it.

When Marius woke up later that evening, he was still tired, but his eyes fluttered open. He was staring at the ceiling when Dominic’s grumpy face comically appeared in his field of vision.

“Marius. We need to have _two_ serious discussions.”

“’Hm… love you too.”

“No, no, no. No sweet talking me, I know you, you little brat.”

“Dom, let me wake up properly...”

“So, first conversation. How to stop the bleeding and how to _check_ that you have correctly stopped the bleeding.”

“Dom come on, I don’t need a lesson.”

“Hush, hush, Marius. First, you grab your sterile bands or gauzes from the medic kit, the location of which you should always know before even starting the mission. If you don’t have bands or gauzes anymore, or no access to the medic kit, then proceed to make a strip out of clean dry cloth, then you-“

“Really, Dom?”

“You were bleeding out next to me! Don’t _‘really, Dom’_ me!”

Dominic had yelled to the point that Marius flinched. He then sighed:

“But you’re right. This conversation can wait for Doc, because he wanted to have this conversation with you too. The second conversation we needed to have is how you made me take the test three times for the helicopter license just because you wanted to spend more time with me!”

“Ow come on. You were enjoying yourself too.”

“Cedric’s been mocking me and calling me a failure for nearly 20 years because of that. We always had the same results at every single test, and you ruined everything.”

Marius swallowed his saliva and muttered:

“I’m… sorry. I didn’t think… “

But Dominic hushed him with his finger on Marius’ lips.

“Just… could you do me a favor, babe?”

“Hm hm?”

“Phone Cedric and tell him it was because of you.”

_“Really, Dom?”_

“Yeah, and tell him about today as well. How you took a bullet and how I saved the day and piloted the helicopter while you were bleeding to death.”

“Then you’ll stop pouting?”

“I’ll consider it.”

Marius chuckled and grabbed Dominic’s hand, making circles on his tattooed skin with his thumb and looking at Dominic with a cheeky grin. Dominic rolled his eyes and kissed him. Marius stroked Bandit’s rebellious short hair and when they slightly parted away to catch some breath, he murmured:

“You’re not though.”

“What?”

“A failure. You did good today. I’m proud of you.”

“Tell that to Cedric, ok?”

“Do I also tell him about how you freaked out?"

"I didn't freak out."

Marius laughed and mimicked Dominic's grumpy face:

 _"Neunzehnhundertvierundneunzig, Marius! Neunzehnhundertvierundneunzig!"_ Marius imitated.

"I hate you."

"Nah you love me. Now, come cuddle with me. I'm injured. I require some love."

Dominic pouted but climbed in the bed, and Jäger quickly wrapped himself around him. Dominic chuckled at the loving embrace, and snuggled against Marius who started to laugh again:

"What's so funny?" Dominic asked.

 _"Neunzehnhundertvierundneunzig, Marius!"_ he mimicked again.

"You're not letting me off with that, are you?"

"No. But I love you."

Dominic rolled his eyes and kissed his cheek.

"Love you too."

Marius giggled again.

_"Neunzehnhundertvierundneunzig, Marius!"_

"Stop it!"


	2. What do you mean 'system failure' ?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the former Ace/Thermite interactions had some success (+ once again, thank you for your comments <3) and it was fun writing them, here's some more. Hope it'll meet up to your expactations :)  
> \+ it's better if you've read "You save my ass, I patch up yours" before.

Thermite finished his shower after his workout, and quickly dressed in comfy clothes. He put on his black shorts and his favorite FBI SWAT T-shirt. He then called the elevator to make his way back to the living quarters and pulled out his phone to check for any schedule update.

The elevators’ doors opened, and he absent-mindedly walked into someone.

“Oops, sorry man, didn't see ya.” He blurted.

“That’s okay, sweetie pie.”

_Oh no._ _Not that again._

“Ah Ace, man. We really need to talk about that nicknaming thing, you know?”

Jordan made his way into the small rusty elevator, putting as much space between Ace and him.

“How are your arms?” Ace asked.

“My arms?”

“Your burns.”

The elevator's doors closed.

“Oh, they’re almost gone. Just some scars here and there like you said, but they’re mostly healed.”

Ace gently smiled, but it soon turned into a sly grin:

“Too bad, I’ve ordered those personalized strips with my phone number on it on Amazon.”

“You didn’t.”

“Of course, I did. I told you I would.”

“And I told you I wouldn’t wear them. And I already have your number!”

“You do?”

“Of course. You’ve been putting post-its on my locker for two weeks.”

The elevator started to lift up. Ace was heading for the 5th floor, probably Harry’s office to report on their mission, since Ace was still all geared up from his training scenario. Jordan quickly pressed on the 4th floor button.

“And you’ve kept them?”

“What, the sticky notes? Of course, I didn’t! You fucking stamped your number in my head, I don’t need a post-it to memorize it anymore.”

Ace grinned from ear to ear:

“So, it did work.”

“You’re a horrible person.”

“You tell me though, if that’s… _harassing_.”

The stress Ace had put on the word and the way his smile had vanished showed Jordan that he had meant it. _Is it harassment?_ Jordan didn’t know. He was conflicted about the whole thing. He was not feeling mentally harassed or bad, like he would have in any other contexts or with other people, but it was just Ace, and he was messing with him, being a clown… And he knew that if one day it was getting too much, borderline, Ace would listen. He had stopped bothering Eliza on day 2, when she told him she didn’t like that at all, and he had apologized and stopped messing with her. Perhaps Jordan could just do like her, and have a serious discussion with him… but then again…

“It’s not.” He finally sighed. “You’re just stupid.”

“Ouch. Mind your words man, I have feelings.”

And suddenly the elevator roared and brutally stopped, just before the 4th floor.  
The lights went out and only the emergency green glare remained.

“What the fuck?” Jordan blurted. “Guys? Anyone? What’s that, a power outage?” he yelled.

“Jordan? That you?” Eliza’s voice echoed from above. “What’s the matter?”

“The elevator stopped; it seems there’s been a power outage.”

“No, it’s not. We still have lights up there. Hold on, Grace is around.”

“I knew those tin cans would fail us one day or another.” Jordan grumbled. “I don’t know how they even passed the standards test.”

Jordan’s phone rang and he quickly answered, seeing it was Eliza:

“Yup?”

“There’s been a system failure. Grace is on it.” Eliza said at the other end.

“Come on, a _system failure_? That thing doesn’t even have a system!” he whined.

“It does” Grace voice echoed “It’s running on a very old software and the updates had been failing for 5 months from what I can see.”

“And when was the last checkup?”

“6 months ago.”

“Lucky us, I guess, uh?”

“But anyway, I’ve got good news and bad news guys. Which one do you want first?” Grace asked.

Ace and Thermite both blurted at the same time:

“The bad one” “The good one.”

Thermite squeezed his eyes at Ace:

“ _The bad one_ , Grace, please.” He repeated.

“The system requires a 4-hour update. I could reboot it and try to force it back to its basic version, but since I have no log about what actually happened, it could get worse.”

“And what is the good news, then?”

“Well, you have to stay in there for _only_ 4 hours.”

“Really? That’s your good news?” Jordan groaned.

“I like that idea.” Ace chuckled.

“You’re sure you can’t figure anything out, Grace? Just… come on, please, I really need your help in here.” Jordan begged.

“Sorry Jordan. That’s the safest way. It’s only 4 hours, you know.”

“I’ve drunk a ton of water at the gym, I’ll need to go to the bathroom at one point or another. Isn’t there a way to open the doors?”

“No. The system is linked to the doors. You’ll worsen everything if you force them open while it’s updating.” Grace replied.

“That’s so not safe!” Jordan protested “There could be a fire in there and we would be barbecued to death!”

“Oh don’t worry” Eliza darkly said “I’ll make sure Harry hears about this stupid incident and if I need to shake some sense into some administrative big heads to sign and pay for decent elevators, I’ll do it.”

“So, you really want us to wait 4 hours in there?” Jordan mumbled.

“For now, yes.” Grace answered “But we’ll phone the technicians and I’ll have Mira and Monika have a look on it. They’re way better mechanics than nerdy me and will probably figure something out, don't worry. So meanwhile, keep still, breathe in, and I don’t know like… take some other photos like the ones you guys posted in the helicopter?”

“What photo?!” Jordan shouted.

“Grace out.” She mischievously hung up Eliza’s phone.

Jordan put his phone back in his pocket and glared at Ace, who was now sitting, his back to the wall, and playing on his phone, popping a bubble gum in his mouth.

“What photo was she talking about? The photo you took when we were in the helicopter two weeks ago?”

“Yup.” Ace absent-mindedly answered.

“You didn’t post that photo on your social media accounts, did you?”

Ace awkwardly smiled.

“You did?!” Jordan shouted.

“I may have… “ Ace shrugged while pausing his video game.

“Man, I could sue you! Delete the photo right now!”

“But people love it!”

“I don’t give a shit, delete it!”

“Everybody fell for you, Jordan!”

“I.don’t.care. Take that shit down or I’ll sue you for real!”

“Ok, ok… “ Ace turned off his game and went to his social media account.

“Give me your phone. I don’t trust you.” Jordan added.

“I’m not giving you my phone, that’s my life, man!” Ace whined with a shocked expression “Just come check for yourself if you don’t trust me.”

Thermite frowned and reluctantly went to sit next to Ace, his shoulder brushing with his, and eyeing cautiously the screen.

“See? That’s the post.”

_Made my favorite colleague smile tday. He got 2nd degree burns while saving my life and he’s a hero <3 + info about the first things to do in case of burns in thread, please read it! Be cautious, loves._

Thermite blushed and when Ace’s white finger moved for the delete button, he caught his hand:

“Wait!”

“I told you it’s a gorgeous photo.”

Jordan quickly released his hand as if he had burnt him, and just asked:

“Will it make your thread about what to do in case of burns disappear?”

“Yes and no. Since the main post will be deleted it will be harder to find and retweets will disappear. That’s how it works, sweetie pie.”

“And are people sharing the thing?”

“You mean are people retweeting it?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, they are. See, right now one dude from Brazil just retweeted it, so everyone who follows him will see the post and can access the thread. And that means… 127 people for our Brazilian buddy.”

Jordan thought. He hated that Ace had posted the photo without his consent, even though his eyes were masked by his goggles and he wouldn’t be that recognizable even for someone who knew his face. But at the same time… the guy was a freaking idol and he hadn’t expected him to… actually put such things in his message. He would have expected the usual narcissism, perhaps something like _“Saved My Colleague’s Life From Awfully Unrecoverable 85 th Degree Burns_” but no… Ace had also linked various slides on how to recognize the degree of a burn, what to do, when to call the ambulance, and even some basic info about explosive atmospheres and… And Ace had even called _him_ , Jordan, a hero, and no one except for his sister had called him that.

And he missed his sister.

_He missed her so bad._

“Hey, sweetie pie, you alright there?”

Jordan shook his thoughts away.

“Don’t take the post down. Just… delete the photo from your phone.”

“What?! No way.”

“Yes way.”

“No.”

“Haugland.”

“That’s not my first name.”

“I know but I don’t know how to pronounce it!”

“Just try to.”

“Then you’ll delete the photo?”

“Perhaps.”

“Why does everything have to be bargained with you!”

“Because you want to take something I cherish from me. So, it comes with a price.”

“You don’t _cherish_ that photo of us, Ace, you just like pissing me off!”

“Of course, I cherish it. You’re freaking gorgeous on it!”

Jordan paled and stood up, yelling at Grace’s intention:

“THAT’S IT GUYS I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE, PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

“It’s been only 5 minutes, Jordan!!” she yelled back.

Jordan tangled his hands in his short hair and grumbled, sitting back down but this time, opposite to Ace.

“You think I was messing with you when I said you were gorgeous?”

“I refuse to have this conversation.”

“Of course, you do. You complain that I’m never serious, but every time it’s comes to _you_ , you’re closing every door and pushing everyone away.”

_Well, that was something serious coming from Ace._

_Mom, get the camera._

“I’m not. I just don’t spill my life for everyone to see that’s all.”

“You don’t open up to anyone you mean. Or just Miles perhaps? I know Eliza and Harry have already warned you t-“

“Is this some psychological exam?!”

“No but… Just… Just please, when I say you’re gorgeous… I mean it. Truly. So… accept it, ok? That you’re gorgeous and that it’s okay to receive some sweet words?”

“Why are you being like this?”

“Like what?”

“All endearing and… all this.”

“Because I like you.”

“I meant for real.”

“See. You don’t accept it.”

“You’re never serious! How could I _accept_ it?”

“Because right now I’m telling you that you’re gorgeous. That you’re brave, clever, damn good at what you do, and you saved my life. And even though it was just about _doing your job_ , my life isn’t worthless. My mom would have been devastated. She’s probably knitting you a Christmas pullover by now.”

Jordan wrapped his arms around himself, hating that his own body was proving Ace’s point. But he didn’t know what to do. There was that stupid vertigo in his guts, and Ace’s words reminded him of his sister, and he had never believed her either, and he hadn’t been there when she passed away and-

_He missed her so much._

“You’re shutting yourself again.” Ace remarked.

“I am.”

“That’s because of the Christmas pullover, right?”

Jordan saw what Ace was doing. He was offering him an exit door to this conversation.  
And Jordan gladly took it:

“Yeah. That’s because of the Christmas pullover.”

“You know, my mom is a great knitter. She even started instagramming her works and she considers creating a tutorial YouTube channel.”

“My mom would have loved that” Jordan murmured. “She didn’t understand a thing about internet and social media, but she wanted to learn and connect with other people. She wasn’t a fan of her Veterans’ widows association.”

Jordan had almost chuckled at the memory of his mother coming to drive little Jordan and his sister from school and complaining about how Mrs. Tran really needed to stop watching that stupid TV Show and how _Sweeties, please, never watch that thing on the TV when I’m not here, it turns your brains into mash potatoes._

Ace had smiled lightly at Jordan’s face and his small confession. _This_ was a huge step.

“Well you could follow my mom’s account and subscribe to her channel. That’d give her more visibility.”

“Are you seriously asking me to follow your mother on social media?”

“That’s what I asked, yes.”

Jordan chuckled, rolling his eyes.  
And at the same time, a flash he was starting to know too well came from Ace’s phone.

“You little shit!!! You didn’t just-“

Ace grinned widely, showing the photo:

“I just did.”

Jordan threw himself at him to grab the phone from his hand, but Ace’s long arm stretched to keep it away from him.

“Delete it right now!”

“Oh no, it’s even better that the last one! The light shines on your Colgate white teeth!”

“Give me your phone, Ace!”

“No way!”

“Yes way!”

They were grappling with each other, like two jiu-jitsu white-belt teenagers and that’s precisely the moment the elevator’s system chose to reboot and lift them up to the floor, the doors opening on the scene with a comical ring.

Jordan was straddling Ace’s hips, his arm crooked around the back of his neck, Ace's face in his pectorals, while his other arm was stretching to grab the phone. But for someone without context, it looked… _suspicious._

Grace and Monika gaped. Eliza pinched her nose.

“That’s really, really, _really_ not what you’re thinking!” Jordan quickly said.

Eliza turned away, lifting her hands up:

“I don’t even want to know. I’m out.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it :) Lemme know <3


End file.
